


these are truly the last days

by fallenidol_453



Category: The Dragon Prophecy - Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Execution, Gen, Not Beta Read, POV Minor Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 10:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16514345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenidol_453/pseuds/fallenidol_453
Summary: Rondaniel knows this battle is an execution.





	these are truly the last days

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Thing for characters who are mentioned in passing less than five times and never show up again. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I do not own the Dragon Prophecy trilogy. All rights belong to Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. Any mistakes to canon in here is entirely my fault.

The pavilion is silent, save for the rustle of fabric and the movements of the remaining servants. Rondaniel huddles near a brazier and watches, quietly, as Glorthiachiel dresses for battle.

A tunic. Plain trousers. No armor for the last living member of Caerthalien’s Line Direct. A surcoat in Caerthalien’s gold and green colors is her only protection. A servant imperfectly pins a Vilya blossom pendant to Glorthiachiel’s left shoulder.

Rondaniel knows this battle is an execution.

An execution Glorthiachiel requested, because to her dying by Vieliessar High King’s hand is a better fate than to bend knee and swear fealty.

As she walks from the pavilion Glorthiachiel offers no last words for Rondaniel. No parting advice, no stern words from her viper mouth. Perhaps she thinks she doesn't need them. After all, why give advice to family who may as well be a stranger?

&

Rondaniel watches the battle through the rippling fabric of the pavilion entrance.

A quick yet merciless fight. It may have been her grandmother's execution, but Glorthiachiel had made Vieliessar fight for that honor to kill her.

Now she rides with the Starry Hunt, and Rondaniel is alone.

&

Rondaniel kneels in her grandmother’s blood with the last of Caerthalien’s servants and swears fealty to Vieliessar High King.

Caerthalien’s bloodline will truly die with her now. For all everyone knows, her uncle Runacarendalur is dead; he hasn't been seen since the battle that erased the Hundred Houses. His bodyguard Helecanth is silent on his whereabouts; she divulges nothing as she becomes a member of the High King's guard. Her younger brother is dead as well, sacrificed to fuel the spell their father wrought.

There is likely no male alive who would want the daughter of Ivrulion Banebrother (or Ivrulion Oathbreaker, to some; they spit on his name all the same) for a wife, and she was already barred from the line of succession by virtue of her birth. But the customs and traditions that governed the Hundred Houses have been torn apart and stomped on like someone being trampled to death by a rampaging destrier; their rules may no longer apply to her.

She will have to see what rises from the ashes of the High King's conquest and reign.


End file.
